Marked - Eve Of Destruction Part 36

"I'm going to get a car out of my dad for this." His dead eyes brightened at the thought. "A Porsche like the one in the driveway. The b.i.t.c.hes will love it."

She'd love to run him over with it, the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d. She tossed a flaming dagger at his right side just for the h.e.l.l of it, then followed it up with another to the left. When he ducked away from the first, the second nicked him on the shoulder. Then it smashed into a jar of something on a crate behind him that exploded into flames. The ignited liquid splattered on him and he cursed, tamping the fire out with swats of his hands.

Eve raised her arms in triumph, relishing the wild aggressive energy the mark was pumping through her veins. "Yes!"

"Stupid wh.o.r.e." His lips curled back from his teeth.

"a.s.shole," she countered.

He feinted to the left, then the right, trying to psych her out. She laughed instead. It was a shaky, rather unconvincing sound, but it was still a shock to hear, which was the point. Sometimes bulls.h.i.t was all a Mark had to keep the tension even.

The wolf growled and shoved the table at her, prompting her to jump back. Richens's body tumbled to her feet.

Then she realized she had a weapon after all-his temper. She'd seen it before, the last time they met. When she provoked him, he'd become careless and violent. He'd run straight into her roundhouse kick and gotten his dumb a.s.s knocked out.

The house is on fire, Alec said.

No s.h.i.t? I thought it smelled like barbeque.

You're going to be barbequed, Reed snapped, if you don't get the h.e.l.l out of there. From the ruckus outside, she guessed they were brawling. Hopefully against the Infernals and not with each other.

b.u.mmer, she thought, I was hoping to hang out here awhile. It's so pleasant and- Eve! they shouted in unison.

"You should have dropped the glamour before you killed Laurel," she said to the wolf, "let her see what she's been f.u.c.king the last three weeks. Or were you afraid to?"

"I'm not afraid of anything! I've done what no other Infernal ever has."

The smoke began to thicken and lower from the ceiling, swirling around their heads and blistering their breathing pa.s.sages.

"She said you sucked in bed," she went on. "No finesse. But the Antonio glamour was hot enough to make it bearable. Wonder what she would have thought if she'd seen that you're just a kid."

"I'm not a f.u.c.king kid!"

Eve opened her mouth to continue, but he threw a bluish glowing ball straight into her sternum. The impact lifted her feet from the floor and slammed her into a crate the size of a refrigerator. She crashed through plywood and into sawdust, the room spinning from the force of the blow.

"Is that all you've got?" she wheezed. "No wonder Laurel was bored."

He leaped across the overturned gurney and landed in a crouch. "You should have heard her begging for it,"

he snarled. "She couldn't get enough."

She squirmed free of the crate and fell to her knees, sucking scorching, ashy air into beleaguered lungs. The mark helped her to heal fast, but it didn't make her invincible. At least there was less smoke closer to the floor. "So you say . . . but that's not what she told me."

His fingers and toes lengthened into claws. The skin across his back rippled with fur, then returned to skin.

"I'll show you," he growled, stalking forward. "I'll f.u.c.k you till you scream."

The ground fell away. Eve found herself levitating a foot above the hardwood floor, then slammed backward into it, splayed. Magic stayed her. She couldn't move more than her head, fingers, and toes. Fear coiled insidiously through her gut, despite the steady pumping of adrenaline and bloodl.u.s.t through her veins. The wolf came closer, half boy and half beast. He was leering, his eyes triumphant, his c.o.c.k hard. Eve laughed softly, knowing she was either going to succeed beautifully or fail miserably. "Do your worst,"

she taunted. "With a d.i.c.k that small, I won't even feel it."

He pounced, altering into his wolf form midleap.

She waited, holding off until the last possible moment, shaking like a leaf and grateful she couldn't vomit. As if in slow motion, he came at her, hovering over her. His mouth was wide, his teeth bared.

"Now," she whispered, crossing her fingers that she wouldn't be denied. A flame-covered silver sword appeared in her hand, facing upward and ready.

He speared himself cleanly, the blade sliding through fur and flesh like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter. A horrendous howl turned into a sick gurgling. As the magical hold he'd had on her released, Eve rolled, taking the top. She lurched to her feet, yanking the blade free and swinging it downward with all her might. The instant the tip hit hardwood, both the severed head and body disintegrated into ash.

"Eve!"

"Angel."

She spun to face the two men who charged into the house. Freed from the necessity of watching the wolf, Eve took in the state of the house. Fire licked along the walls from the hallway, rushing toward the fresh air introduced through the front door. The blaze she'd started in the living room had spread to the kitchen. The whole house creaked in protest, shuddering at its impending collapse.

Alec reached her first, s.n.a.t.c.hing her up and tossing her over his shoulder. The sword clattered to the floor.

"Time to go," he muttered.

The next instant she found herself by the Porsche, disoriented and barely breathing. Around her was chaos. Twin piles of ash dotted the lawn, as did the bodies of two Mark guards. Two wolves fought with those who remained standing. The dragon was acting as cover for the Marks, spewing fire according to the directions shouted from the gwyllion, who stood on the roof of the van.

"Is he d-dead?" she gasped, clinging to Alec as the sky swirled madly above her. "Is the wolf really dead this time?"

Reed's voice came clipped and furious, "I'd say so."

"Are you sure?" she persisted. "We burned him up before and the son of a b.i.t.c.h came back."

Alec pressed his lips to her forehead and released her. "Ash is ash, there's no coming back from that. Can you get Montevista out of here?"

Eve blinked. "What?"

He gestured to the pa.s.senger seat where the guard laid crumbled, his black shirt glistening wetly, his throat torn and gushing. If he were mortal, he'd be long dead. As a Mark, he was d.a.m.n close to it. Defenseless and vulnerable.

Reed pressed keys into her palm. "Go."

A piercing howl rent the air. They turned their heads, saw a ma.s.sive wolf on the front steps. It stared at them with bared teeth and glowing red eyes. The white diamond on its forehead told her who it was, but she asked anyway, "Is that Daddy?"

"Get the f.u.c.k out of here!" Alec yelled, his wings snapping free with such force, Eve was plastered to the hood. Reed joined the fray, the two brothers launching forward, intercepting the wolf, who charged at her full-bore while flanked on either side by two wolves.

Black and white wings, powerful masculine bodies, ferocious beasts . . . She was arrested by the sight. The eternal conflict between angel and demon. The battle cries and howls of pain. The smell of fire and ash, of blood and urine.

"Hollis . . ."

Montevista's weak voice snapped her back to reality. Eve slid off the hood. She leaped over the driver's-side door of the open convertible and hopped into the seat. She turned the key in the ignition and the powerful engine roared like a dream. She squealed out of the driveway in reverse, running over an attacking wolf in the process.

Gripping the stick shift, she slammed the transmission into gear and punched the gas. She adjusted the rearview mirror, trying to see the fracas behind her. Montevista yelled in terror. Eve's gaze shot forward and she screamed, too. She stood on the brake. The Porsche's rear end fishtailed wildly, the car skidding down the street pa.s.senger side first . . .

. . . straight for the house-size, flesh-colored beast thundering toward them. The car juddered to a halt.

"f.u.c.k me," she breathed, then coughed as her lungs burned. Was that the h.e.l.lhound?

Turn around and run, Alec bit out. Only Infernals can kill it. Wasn't that just really d.a.m.ned inconvenient?

She looked back at the blazing house and the two winged men who circled low over it, combating the wolves that poured out of a widening hole in the ground. Satan was sending reinforcements. They couldn't deal with the behemoth from h.e.l.l on top of that. No way.

One wolf broke free of the melee and raced toward her, foaming at the mouth and lathered at the throat. The Alpha.

Eve restarted the stalled car and spun around, hurtling toward the wolf with the same reckless intent he displayed. If it was just a game of chicken between a canine and a car, she'd know who would win. But against a werewolf . . . She gripped the steering wheel tighter and shifted gears in rapid succession. A foot away from impact, the wolf leaped onto the hood, his ma.s.sive claws piercing through the metal. He roared at her through the windshield, his red eyes wild and filled with evil. He lunged headfirst into the safety gla.s.s, shattering it.

f.u.c.king A.

Downshifting, Eve yanked the steering wheel hard left and spun the car back around, skidding across the empty street and hitting a curb. The b.u.mp dislodged the wolf, who slid across the hood and almost fell off before gaining purchase at the very nose.

She gunned it, putting the Porsche through its paces as she accelerated toward the approaching megaInfernal. Zero to sixty in less than four seconds.

"This might not work," she shouted at Montevista.

"Go down in a blaze of glory," he said back.

"Give me your gun."

Montevista pulled the weapon free of his thigh holster and racked it, then handed it over. She aimed and fired through the wolf, the Glock autoloading and discharging again and again and again. The sixth bullet widened the hole in the Alpha's shoulder and pierced through the other side, hitting the h.e.l.lhound. Covered in werewolf blood, the bullet penetrated the beast's hide. Eve continued to fire, punching through the back of the wolf to injure the hound with nearly every shot.

The hound screamed in fury and lunged. Eve punched the gas. With the Alpha as a hood ornament, she hit the beast head on. The wolf's head sank muzzle-first into the h.e.l.lhound's belly before he disintegrated into ash. The Infernal bellowed, then exploded, spraying Eve and Montevista with a deluge of gore. Unable to see, she ran the Porsche over a curb and crashed into an oak tree. The air bags deployed and her head slammed forward into the pillow, then back into the headrest.

The world came to an abrupt stop.

Eve groaned and looked at Montevista. He was slumped over the dash, eyes open and sightless. Crying, she tried to open the driver's-side door, but was unable to.

Strong arms plucked her out. She fell into Reed's embrace with a sob of relief. "He's dead. Montevista's dead."

The arms that held her were shaking. "You're f.u.c.king nuts, you know that? Absolutely insane. What the h.e.l.l were you thinking?"

Thinking? Her brain had stopped working when Alec beamed her out of the house. "I-"

A ma.s.sive explosion shook the very ground they stood on. Looking around Reed's shoulder, she saw flames from the duplex shoot toward the heavens. Another enormous boom! had her ducking her face into his chest.

Then her feet left the ground and they were moving.

"What-?"

"Gasoline," he bit out, tossing her over his shoulder as Alec had done.

Eve smelled it then. Her head lifted to watch and found Alec fast on their heels. They were barely across the street before the Porsche went the way of the house, erupting into a billowing inferno. Reed put her down and stared at the destruction with an arm around her shoulders. Alec drew abreast of them and took a position on the other side of her. The light of the twin blazes set him aglow, burnishing him in a way that make her look twice.

"You okay?" he asked.

She patted herself down, searching for any spots of soreness or grotesquely protruding bones. "I think so."

An unknown blonde in shorts and a tank top came running toward them. "Un-f.u.c.king-believable!" she shouted.

"Do we know that person?" Reed asked.

"You do now," Alec replied, sounding resigned. "Meet Giselle, the Mare."

"She just ran over Sammael's dog!" Giselle yelled, clutching her head.

A blazing chrome wheel rim rolled toward them and came to a shuddering stop at the curb.

"And destroyed another expensive car," Alec said.

"And blew up another building," Reed added.

"What does that matter at a time like this?" Eve snapped, fighting to stay upright. Everything around her was spinning like a top, and blood and tissue were dripping from her hair and clothes.

"If I think about how this place got this way," Reed muttered, "I might go stark raving mad."

The Porsche collapsed to the ground with a loud groan. The pa.s.senger door popped open and Montevista's charred body tumbled free.

Eve thought she might pa.s.s out. Then the body got up and walked toward her, and she really did.

CHAPTER 20.

"I am impressed with your performance, Evangeline."

Eve stared at the stunning blonde at the end of the conference table and felt uneasy. The way Sarakiel said her name was . . . creepy, as was the intensity with which the archangel watched her. They sat in one of the conference rooms in Gadara Tower. In addition to her and Sara, both Reed and Alec were present, plus Montevista and Hank. On one of the walls, a bank of video screens aired feeds from the offices of the other archangels. Five impossibly beautiful faces stared at her, watching her with the same intensity as Sara. It took every bit of self-control Eve had to sit still and not wiggle nervously. Two days ago it had seemed as if Armageddon was here. Today they were drinking tea from a Victorianstyle tea service and recapping the events that const.i.tuted the worst training disaster in Mark history.

"What made you think of the photographs?" Sara asked her.

"I needed proof," she explained. "I suspected there was a traitor in the group after Reed and I established a timeline for Molenaar's murder. Since Claire is the one who provided the benchmark and she didn't have an alibi, I thought of her first. It wasn't until I saw the picture and realized Rome- Garza had a visible mark, too, that it hit me: he was the one who volunteered to put the armbands on everyone. Probably because he didn't want to risk either his grandmother or himself getting caught."

"You did not see this when you read her, Hank?" Michael asked, his voice as resonant as a harp. Eve kept her eyes downcast, unable to look at him without quaking. As gorgeous as he was with his dark hair and brilliant blue eyes, he was also terrifying. There was something . . . lethal about him. A darkness in his eyes that hinted at volatile, frightening depths. If someone told her that he was Satan, she'd believe it. As formidable as Raguel and Sara were, they seemed almost friendly in comparison.

"The last time I read her was before she saw the photos," Hank said. Presently in the guise of a man, he lounged with studied insouciance and offered the occasional supportive smile to Eve. "I knew she suspected someone and I followed her plan to a.s.sume the guise of the ghost hunters, but I was clueless as to the ident.i.ty of the Infernals until after they attacked."

Eve waited for someone to ask why Alec and Reed didn't know, considering their insight into her mind, but no one did.

They don't know we're tied together, Alec said.

She looked at him. He sat at the opposite head of the table from Sara. While Sara was dressed faultlessly in a blood-red pantsuit, Alec was wearing his own cla.s.sic attire of worn jeans and a fitted T-shirt. His hair needed a cut and deep grooves rimmed either side of his mouth, but neither detracted from his appearance. He was still hot as h.e.l.l.

His dark eyes narrowed slightly. We're keeping that information hidden from them-for now-but we're going to have to figure out how you hid information from us.